Back to School Tips for Your ADHD/LD Child

My ADHD/LD son will start back to school in just three short weeks. It's incredibly hard to believe that summer is coming to an end. However, he couldn't be more excited! In spite of the numerous academic difficulties he has, he absolutely loves school. He thrives on the social interaction. Regardless of his enthusiasm, there are still several things he has to do to prepare for his return:

• Return to school year bedtime routine - During the summer he is allowed to stay up as late as he wishes, which usually does not go past 11:00 pm. We will begin returning him to his usual bedtime (9:30 pm) slowly.

• School supplies - He loves getting stocked up on school supplies. As soon as our local stores begin stocking their shelves he is ready to fill up our cart. However, this year I used an online service, EZ School Supplies. They have a comprehensive site full of every possible school supply your child could need. Their prices are also comparable to local stores' prices. It was fast, easy and convenient.

• Clothes - Since it seems like my son grows every single night, I always go through his clothes and check to see what still fits and what does not. Since he is very rarely able to wear clothes for two seasons, now is the perfect time to make any necessary clothing purchases. All of the major retailers general have back-to-school sales and bargains are easy to find.

• Meet the teacher - This is a night my son looks forward to. His school holds a "Meet the Teacher Night" a few days before school starts. This allows the students to get acquainted with their new teacher, classroom and classmates. We always make every effort to attend this all important event. It helps relieve some of the back-to-school stress.

• Homework space - Now is the perfect time to restock your child's homework supplies for home. Make sure he has all of the pencils, paper, crayons, markers, colored pencils, erasers, etc. that he will need to complete his homework assignments. We have a designated area in our home, next to my home office, where all of the supplies are categorized and stored. I usually wait until a week or two after school has started to stock up on these supplies. That is when most of the major retailers slash the school supplies prices in order to clear their shelves. I generally purchase enough to last the entire year at this time.